Apple iPhone 5 coming amid Samsung sell-offs

(USA TODAY) Apple's victory in its landmark legal battle may have created a wave of uncertainty for owners of Samsung smartphones -- many are dumping them.

A nine person jury on Friday found Samsung guilty of infringement in the patent case over designs and software of Apple's iPads and iPhones. Apple won an injunction that covers 28 Samsung models that could be banned from U.S. sales.

Since the verdict, resale site Gazelle.com has seen an over 50% uptick in sales of Samsung phones from customers, a move that comes ahead of Apple's widely rumored iPhone 5 launch, expected in mid-September. It is also widely expected that Apple will unveil an iPad mini about the same time.

"The spike in Samsung (sellers) was right around the court verdict," says Anthony Scarsella, chief gadget officer at Gazelle.com.

"I think consumers in general could be shying away from purchasing these devices going forward. Some people are panicking," he says.

Concerns run that Samsung smartphones may get inferior software updates and a degraded touch experience. The jury verdict against Samsung found that some touch functions of its software, powered by Google's Android operating system, infringed on Apple's patents.

If Samsung does not win an appeal of the verdict at the federal circuit court in Washington, D.C., it will have to remove or work around the legal claims on Apple's innovations.